For the Life you have Dreamed…

Feeling sluggish?

It’s just about 8 weeks since the beginning of the year! Remember 8 weeks ago? We were so hopeful! We were so determined! We were going to make big changes!

Now, it’s cold, rainy, and miserable – outside and inside! It seems that every day we have a threat of snow and get, at least, rain. It’s dreary. We just want to stay inside, snuggle under a blanket, and don’t move until the sun comes out and the weather is warmer.

There’s a lot to be said for taking some time to just stay home – time to read a book, time to watch some marathons on tv. It’s not always a bad thing. But with weather like this, there is always a danger that slowly, quietly, depression can begin to find it’s way in and make a home in you.

You can enjoy your temporary life under the covers while still maintaining mental and physical health. Exercise is one of the best mood enhancers there is!

What? You’re already too sluggish to get up and go to the gym? You only have to move a few feet from your couch!! Try these:

1. Do you have a fitness band that monitors your steps? Do you try for daily 10,000 steps? Create a circuit in your house that you can walk to add steps daily. Or (and?) when you are watching tv, instead of sitting throughout the whole show, choose a segment between commercials in which you watch that segment while walking back and forth. Don’t have a fitness monitor? Just do this anyway!

2. Do strengthening exercises. Strength training increases your metabolism and elevates your mood – and you don’t even need any equipment other than your body! In between commercials, do 10 pushups, 10 sit-ups/crunches, 10 squats. Then do it again at the next commercial, and the next. If you have stairs in your house, add two trips up and down the stairs. (You can challenge yourself and benefit even more if you take the stairs two at a time.)

3. Several times a day, assume the plank position (this is the beginning position of a full pushup. Hold that plank position for as long as you can. Work up to 30 seconds. Then work up to 1 minute. The plank is one of the best exercises you can do, and once you get into the position, you don’t have to do anything but hold it. The plank position strengthens your core (abs, back), your shoulders, your arms, and your legs) . See the muscles worked here: http://www.plankexerciseapp.com/guide/plank-exercise-benefits
(You really don’t need an app if you don’t want.)

Congratulate yourself each time you do these! Do these every day and soon you will find yourself wanting more… you may even get up and go to the gym!